Police arrested a 21-year-old North Carolina man last Friday in the parking lot at Kennesaw Mountain High School when they found a loaded pistol near his console and a semi-automatic rifle with more than 350 rounds of ammunition in his trunk.

Joshua Harvell, 21, of Albemarle, N.C., was spotted smoking a cigarette in his car around 10:45 a.m. by a school administrator, said Ron Storey, director of public safety for the Cobb County School District.

The administrator alerted Sgt. David Rolfe, who approached the vehicle.

Rolfe questioned Harvell and found that he was not a student at Kennesaw Mountain, then spotted a folding lock-blade in his pants pocket, according to the arrest warrant. That’s when he looked inside the vehicle.

Rolfe noticed, “in open view,” a Smith & Wesson .40-caliber pistol sitting between the console and the passenger seat, the arrest warrant stated.

Rolfe immediately took Harvell into custody and had the vehicle impounded and searched. Police reported finding an Archangle 5.56 semi-automatic rifle with 355 rounds of ammunition, another 49 rounds for the pistol, and a 24-inch machete inside the trunk of the car. Police reported that the pistol was loaded with 19 rounds in the magazine but did not say if the rifle in the trunk was loaded.

Storey said Harvell has no history of violent arrests and had an alibi for why he was sitting in the school’s parking lot.

“His brother is married to a student’s sister,” Storey said. “The story he gave is she was going home for the weekend to visit her sister in North Carolina, but his brother couldn’t make it and asked him to come down from North Carolina to get her from school.”

Rolfe is the school district’s canine officer and just happened to stop at Kennesaw Mountain High to let his dog out for some exercise, Storey said Tuesday.

“After talking to him (Harvell) he asked ‘are there any other weapons in the car’ and he said, ‘well yes there is,’” Storey said. “But his story does check out that he was going to pick up this student. The only problem is he’s on the school property, in the middle of the student parking lot, with a weapon and another weapon in the trunk.”

Storey said the main entrance to the school sits about 200 yards away from where Harvell was parked.

Storey said the guns were not stolen but he could not say whether they had been legally purchased by Harvell.

“We checked and they came back as not stolen,” he said.

Storey said he asked Harvell Friday if he was employed.

“He told me he worked at Walmart and had to work that night,” Storey said. “I told him, ‘I don’t think you’re going to make it to work on time, buddy.’”

“It raises an eyebrow, but as far as his story, it did check out.”

Storey praised the administrator who noticed the man smoking in his car.

“I do not know if it was the principal or the assistant principal who saw him, but whoever it was, was paying attention and doing what they should have been doing,” he said.

Storey said campus police transported Harvell to the Cobb County Jail in one of the school district’s new police cruisers. Harvell remains in the county jail without a bond.

If it were a real threat they would have let people know. It seems the possibility of a kid not thinking, in the action of why they didn't lock down the school. He would have to be checked out and questioned as a threat because of what has happened at other schools. But obviously his story did check out and his bail would not be allowed because he was from out of state too.

His story doesn't make sense...was this verified by the parents, in person, with ID? Why weren't students notified there was a threat with lockdown? Why weren't parents notified? This speaks of more than just picking a student up & many feel there is more to the story that isn't being told.

Get details on other news stories...picture of this guy pointing a gun to the camera...same picture of others involved in shootings. Don't believe he's as innocent as portrayed...Columbine shooters had no record of violence either...he was deemed too dangerous for bail...there's more to the story & KMHS did not follow proper protocol with notifying parents or students. This was heard on the news 4 days later....

The judge deemed this person too dangerous to grant bail...Admin explanation on website is vague and nonchalant. With unsecured entrances, open courtyard..where students were outside within range of threat & had no knowledge of it..no lockdown or warning whatsoever to students, no notification to parents..details and changes need to be demanded for an incident that could have caused mass violence & loss of life for students and staff... This was treated in a hush-hush manner before safety of students & parental trust. The police officer is a true hero who deserves public recognition.

Can someone find out if Hinojosa was even in town. Word is he was not even the office on Friday. How can he keep this type of information from the parents? When did the Board find out? They are up for re-election next summer. If they knew, they must ALL go and if not then Hinojosa must go!!

Huge issue with protocol of locking down the school and parents being notified not being followed. Who tried to hide this?? Why did it take a reporter looking for a story to find this? Why did parents find out 4 days later on the news?

It would be interesting for your paper to look into why the high school administration failed to notify the KMHS parents about this arrest. We all found out about this Monday night on the news. Four days after this incident. No calling post message. No letter sent home. Just a vague posting on the high school website which was posted just today, five days after the arrest and a day after it was all over the TV news. According to my kid, they have not yet had a lock-down emergency drill at this school either. Many Kudos to the campus police officer who arrested this guy. He is a hero.

*We welcome your comments on the stories and issues of the day and seek to provide a forum for the community to voice opinions. All comments are subject to moderator approval before being made visible on the website but are not edited. The use of profanity, obscene and vulgar language, hate speech, and racial slurs is strictly prohibited. Advertisements, promotions, and spam will also be rejected. Please read our terms of service for full guides